Jerusalem: Growth and the Western Wall's Appeal

When Sultan Suleiman gained control of Jerusalem, he brought on many changes that increased the appeal of Jerusalem yet again and encouraged it's growth. He decided that Jerusalem and Muslims were still under threat and took on the rebuilding of a wall surrounding the city. Sultan Suleiman built a wall that was 2 miles long and 40 feet high, with seven gates and thirty four towers. He also fixed the water system of the city, and added more detailing to the Dome of the Rock. However, one of the major things Suleiman decided to do that brought more Jews to Jerusalem was to encouraged Jewish refugees to come back to Jerusalem. Jews who settled there were protected, and some "even held government positions" (Armstrong page 326), so the appeal of Jerusalem to Jews grew more. Also around this time, a man named David Reuveni came to Jerusalem claiming to be the Messiah and the new King David. Although many Jews remained skeptical of this, many others sold all of their belongings to come to Jerusalem and celebrate passover with him. Something else that eventually led to the Jewish appeal in Jerusalem was David Reuveni's focus on the Western Wall. When it began to draw the attention of Jews, Suleiman allowed for their to be a place of prayer established by the wall for the Jewish community. When building the site, they even constructed it to make the wall appear larger, therefore reinforcing it's value. This therefore became a center for Jewish life in Jerusalem. As of now, this wall has become known as the wailing wall, people will travel far and wide to see it as is a huge draw of focus for the Jewish religion. Soon later, the idea of Jerusalem being the center of the world changed and was thought to be nonsense as Europeans wanted to look for the "so-called facts of the faith that could be demonstrated logically" (page 340). For example, the bread of the Eucharist become a mere symbol of the body of christ instead of being the true body of christ. Nevertheless, just like the Eucharist continues to be taken by Christians, the impact of the western wall remained immense. This was proven when Jews, in the early 1900s, vowed to "defend the wall to the death" (Armstrong page 382) when tensions with Arab grew, and many Jews died in riots trying to keep the wall out of Arab control.